Misunderstood
by Porky Poo
Summary: Loki was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. but after all of the destruction he has caused in the past they still don't want him dead. Will Loki ever figure out what they really want? And will he ever get out? *Sequel to I Think I'll Stay Awhile (must read first)* *Slight spoilers for Marvel Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.*
1. Old Enemies

Loki had to admit that the park bench was not all that uncomfortable and soon found himself stretched out dozing lightly. Erik had gone off to comfort Jane who had crashed after the morning's activities. Darcy and Ian had gone in search of food, which Darcy pronounced they all desperately needed. So Loki found himself alone, and being too tired to even think, he had set Mjolnir gently on the ground and laid down on the bench.

However the slumbering god was jerked awake as he was lifted into the air. As he came to his senses the startled Frost Giant was thrown down onto the ground. A heavy metal foot stepped none too gently on his chest, pinning him there. Loki didn't even try to resist, there was no point there was only one person this could be. He looked up and gave Iron Man his best innocent smile, needless to say it didn't work.

"Back in town, I see," Tony remarked, his voice slightly distorted by the Iron Man suit.

"Apparently," Loki replied smirking slightly.

The conversation ended there and the two stared at each other, green eyes to metal sockets. Loki was actually quite relaxed and he was starting to doze off again when the sound of the ship woke him. Loki strained his neck to see it but Iron Man just stepped down harder, preventing his movement. The sound of quick footsteps approached where the Frost Giant was pinned down. The footsteps stopped and three familiar if not friendly faces came into view. The pressure on Loki's chest loosened minutely and he was lifted roughly up by his neck and held aloft by Captain America. Backup had most definitely arrived.

"I have not done anything," Loki stated quite calmly holding his hands up. As the Captain placed his feet back on the solid ground he was viciously attacked by Barton. Loki was tired but he still managed to dodge the other man's attack, at least until Captain America replaced his grip and Loki had no choice but to stand still. In that moment Clint's fist made contact with his jaw sending him flying. He sprawled out, unable to stand, he was weaker than he had thought.

Before he had time to even stand up and brush himself off, a pair of shackles had been unceremoniously locked onto his wrists and he was being dragged off. They placed him into their jet and as they flew neither the Avengers nor there cooperative captive said a word. Loki was just starting to doze off once more when they landed and roughly pulled him out and dragged him across the deck.

The Avengers led him though the passages of the Helicarrier, an armed guard accompanying them. They walked on until they had gotten nearly to the center of the ship where they pushed Loki crudely into a new and improved glass prison.

"What are you doing here?" Fury asked abusively once the hydraulic doors had hissed closed.

"Your minions brought me," he replied as through to say 'Are you really that thick?'

"I mean on the planet!" Came the rough reply.

"Saving it, something you dull creatures cannot seem to do properly." Loki was tired and sore and he really wanted to be back on his warm park bench, but there was nothing he could do about that so he was content to make this as hard on Furry as possible.

"I've seen the footage," Fury said his thin patience failing, "And Thor?"

"Not coming," Loki said his face not showing the pain it took to say those simple words.

"How come?" Fury inquired tired of all the half answers he was getting.

"I do not have time for this, I mean you and your precious world no harm," Loki said trying to convey that this was pointless, "If you could please just deposit me back on the ground that would be lovely."

"I'm afraid that won't be happening," Fury said turning and leaving Loki alone at last. As the director left, the lights in the room turned off, a dim glow emanating from somewhere beyond Loki's line of sight replacing them. The lack of lights didn't seem to bother the Frost Giant and with an almost content sigh Loki laid down on the floor to get some more sleep.

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**A\N:** So here it is, the next instalment of my story. What do you think? Please leave a review, they are always welcome.


	2. New Friends

"And then pop! There he was, fighting off twenty dark elves!" Darcy exaggerated to Ian as they walked back to where they had left Loki. They had been lucky enough to find a nearby McDonald's and Ian was now loaded down with far too much food.

"I don't think there were twenty of them," Ian said struggling to keep a hold on all the bags. Darcy had insisted on buying two of everything on the menu although Ian had tried hard to convince her otherwise.

"Of course there were twenty," Darcy replied, pausing a moment to fish a french fry out of one of the bags Ian was carrying. "And he fought them off single handedly."

"I think you might be romanticizing him just a bit," Ian tried to bring Darcy back to the real world. "He did try to take over the world."

"Well of course, he's evil," Darcy agreed, "But still it was kind of heroic, don't you think?"

Ian never got a chance to answer as at that moment Jane came running up to them out of breath with a worried expression on her face. "Where's Loki?" she asked before she had reached them.

"On the bench where we left him?" Darcy asked hopefully as Jane came to a stop in front of her and Ian.

"No," Jane said dashing all of Darcy's hope, "And he left the hammer."

Darcy did not know why but that statement shocked her, the hammer wasn't even Loki's but the idea that he would leave it behind seemed almost wrong. It appeared to bother Jane as well, but neither of them knew what to do. Either Loki left of his own free will, not caring about the hammer, or he was taken against his will, forced to leave the hammer behind. If it was the first there was no way to tell, but if it was the second there was one way to find out. There was only one group of people crazy enough to abduct Loki, and they had to be around here someplace.

The door banged open startling everyone in the building. Darcy, Ian and Erik entered the room led by Jane who strode deliberately to where Coulson stood. A moment ago he had been discussing something with the two women who stood near him. But now he was looking at Jane with an almost puzzled expression.

"Where is he, Coulson?" she demanded, getting rather close to him, she had slapped Loki in the face, she was not afraid to do the same to this man.

"I have no idea," Coulson informed her, understanding at once who she was talking about, "Nor do I have any desire to know."

"But S.H.I.E.L.D. does have him?" she questioned once more hearing the underlying meaning in his tone.

"Yes, I was informed that The Avengers were picking him up earlier." Coulson told her.

While this exchange was going on Erik had noticed some fancy equipment off to one side and had ventured over to see what it was. He was now in deep conversation with two of the agents, a short Scottish man and a young British woman. And Ian was standing awkwardly in the background, not understanding who all these people where.

Darcy had positioned herself slightly behind Jane, ready to jump into the conversation when she was needed. Her attention was broken however when a young woman with brown hair approached her, offering her hand.

"Hello," she said. "My name's Skye."

"I'm Darcy," Darcy said trying not to be rude and yet trying to hear what Jane was saying.

"Everyone is wondering where Thor is," Coulson was saying, but Skye broke Darcy's concentration once more.

"You're probably wondering who everyone is," She said, "That's Agent May," She gestured to a silent Asian woman standing at Coulson's shoulder. "That's agent Ward, he's my S.O." The man she pointed to took his attention momentarily off of what Coulson was saying to give Darcy a small nod of his head. "And that's Fitz-Simmons," she said indicating the two agents who were speaking to Erik.

"Which one?" Darcy asked trying to figure out which person Skye had meant.

"Both of them," Skye said in a matter of fact tone. Darcy looked at the two people once more, they obviously were not related as they both had completely different accents. Married then, she thought to herself.

"That's Jane," Darcy said indicating each person in turn, "That's Erik Selvig, and that's my intern."

Skye looked Darcy up and down momentarily before commenting, "You have an intern?"

"Of course," Darcy replied as though it were the most natural thing in the world, "I need someone to do all the stuff Jane makes me do that I don't want to."

Skye nodded her head knowingly, she understood about being told to do things that were not remotely interesting to her in anyway.

"So what do you do for a living?" Skye asked trying to make small talk as Jane and Coulson where still talking, and although Jane's voice had dropped somewhat in volume, there was still no end to the conversation in sight.

"I'm Jane's intern," Darcy replied, "I don't really get paid or anything, but as you can see she brought me to England."

"Wait, you're an intern?" Skye said when she had gotten over the shock of the statement.

"Well yeah," Darcy replied.

"And you have an intern?" Skye continued still trying to wrap her head around the oddness that is Darcy.

"Of course," Darcy said innocently.

The two women slipped into silence once more and both turned their attention back to what Jane and Coulson where discussing. However, as Skye had not really been paying any attention to what had been said at the beginning she had to admit that she was completely lost.

"So, who are you looking for?" Skye asked turning back to Darcy.

"We're looking for Loki," Darcy said, sure that as Skye was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. she was aware of what had happened earlier that morning.

"You can't be serious!" Skye exclaimed a little too loudly causing the other two conversations in the room to stop abruptly. "Sorry," Skye apologized meekly. And then in a more quiet voice she said to Darcy, "But he's pure evil, why in the world would you want to find him?"

"He's not all that evil, and besides he saved the world," Darcy said wondering why in the world she was defending Loki. "And since the whole thing with Thor." Here Darcy cut off what she was saying and looked down at her feet, why was she saying these things? She wasn't even sure if she should be talking to this person.

"What thing with Thor?" Skye questioned inquisitively, there had been no sign of Thor, and usually where Loki was involved Thor was quick to follow. But not this time, sending up a ton of red flags in S.H.I.E.L.D.

When Darcy didn't say anything Skye tried again. "Come on," She persuaded, "Technically I'm not even a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, I'm just a consultant."

The word 'consultant' had an almost magic effect on Darcy. If this woman wasn't an agent then maybe, just maybe she could be trusted. Darcy was just about to open her mouth and tell Skye everything when Jane all of a sudden turned around.

"Darcy," She said, "It's time to go."

And with that Jane left the room striding as purposefully out as she had in. Erik quickly said goodbye to the two Fitz-Simmons' and followed Jane out, Ian following him. Darcy, however, stayed put, she wanted to talk to Skye more but she also didn't want to stay here. As if to solve the problem Skye handed Darcy her phone.

"Just your email," she said secretively.

Hurriedly Darcy typed her email address into the phone before handing it back to Skye.

"I'll be in touch," Skye said as Darcy practically ran after her two friends and intern.

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**A\N:** I hoped you enjoyed this. Please leave a review on your way out, I am always looking for feedback, thank you.


	3. A Daring Escape

**A\N:** I would just like to say that I am sorry this has taken me so long to update. But here it finally is: the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. And please leave a review, any kind of feedback is greatly appreciated.

* * *

Loki was pacing the confines of his glass prison. As he strode he wished that he could be sleeping once more. He had been awoken from his slumber by a terrible nightmare. Of course Loki would never admit it but the dream had frightened him. He furiously tried to shake the thoughts of the dream from his mind as he attempted to concentrate on an escape plan; he didn't intend on staying there any longer. Unfortunately his thoughts were still clouded by the memories that the dream had brought back to life.

As a result of his clouded mind, it took him much longer than normally necessary to come up with a plausible plan. However he was just putting the finishing touches on one when a dozen or so agents marched into the room led by none other than Director Fury. All the agents held rather large guns and none of them let their guard down even for a moment. On the other hand Fury looked rather at ease with his surroundings, and even though there was no sign of a gun, in all probability Fury had at least two stashed in various places.

"You're going to cooperate," Fury stated plainly. "Or you're going to be a dead god."

"Is that so?" Loki replied and as he spoke he quickly revised his escape to account for what was about to happen. "How can you be so certain that I want to live?"

"I know you Loki, more than you think," Fury stated, "You're always looking out for yourself. You would never do anything that wasn't in your best interest. And so you will keep out of mischief, or I will personally put two bullets in your brain. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly," Loki replied almost innocently. He had no intention of behaving himself but he kept that fact to himself.

Fury nodded his head to one of the agents who was standing next to the prison's control panel. The agent lowered his gun momentarily to type quickly with one hand. He paused for a moment looking to the Director for confirmation, Fury gave another nod of his head and the agent pressed the authorization button. The control panel quickly scanned the agent's finger print before sending the signal for the doors to open.

The doors gave off a hydraulic hiss as they slowly opened. And Loki couldn't help but smile, this was exactly what he wanted.

"Close the doors!" Fury yelled noticing the look on Loki's face and realizing what was about to happen. But it was too late, Loki already had one foot out the door, and as he cleared the confines of the glass cage the room was filled with at least thirty Loki duplicates. The room exploded in confusion as the agents didn't know which Loki to attack first. And in the midst of the mayhem not even Fury noticed the real Loki slip out through the door and into the main portion of the helicarrier.

All Loki needed to do was get up on the main deck and then he could hijack one of the many jets that occupied the landing strip. The Midgardian steering mechanisms could not be that different from those on Asgard. However the foremost problem would be getting there as the entire ship was on red alert after his escape. And so everywhere that he went Loki created various diversions most of which involved duplicates of himself running off in different directions.

Eventually Loki made his way up on the deck but he became so surprised by his surroundings that he unintentionally dissolved the magic holding his duplicates in place causing them to disintegrate in green light and alerting everyone to his location. The reason for his astonishment was the fact that the helicarrier had landed and not just anywhere. They were in a magnificent hanger capable of holding at least three equally large helicarriers with no problem at all.

There was no way he could escape from this. But there was no way he was going down without a fight. And so he turned to face those who were running towards him, unfortunately as he turned he felt a piercing sting in his shoulder. He looked down and noticed a small dart sticking out of his arm and then there was another sting, this one on his neck.

All of a sudden the strength seemed to leave his body and he fell to his knees unable to stand. There was nothing he could do now but let the sedative take effect as he slowly slipped closer to the ground and closer to unconsciousness.

_So they don't want me dead after all,_ was Loki's last thought and then he lost all consciousness and his head hit the deck, quite literally.

* * *

Hundreds of miles away in Greenwich, Mjolnir hummed quietly to herself, her new master had almost succeeded in calling for her. But had lost his grip on reality before he had actually accomplished anything. And so Mjolnir sat in the same location that Loki had left her as the silly little Midgardians tried to lift her from her resting place.

It had only taken them a few hours to find out where she was sitting and since then the crowd had steadily grown as more and more people arrived to try and lift Thor's mighty hammer. Thankfully none of them were worthy of the power of Thor. However some would argue that Loki was not worthy either, but Mjolnir had to disagree. She had sensed something in him, a desire to be more like Thor.

And so she sat and waited. Waited for Loki to realize his true potential.


	4. Discovery

The scorching brown liquid poured from the machine, sending off hot fingers of steam as it filled the pot. This was the second pot of coffee that had been made that day, but it was just as anxiously awaited as the first one from earlier that morning. 'The elixir of life,' as Skye fervently referred to it, was a key part in the most high security computer hacks. And this was probably the most heavily guarded facility that Skye had ever hacked.

The Hub: the central command of all of S.H.E.I.L.D. And she was about to hack it. Of course Skye had to admit that it really wasn't that much of a hack, more like a camera hijack. There was nothing incredibly serious behind it, but Coulson and Simmons had been gone for quite some time and she just wanted to know where they were.

Skye drummed her fingers impatiently on the counter as the last drops of coffee dripped slowly into the full pot; she was not about to lose a single globule of the reviving liquid. When she was sure that all of the coffee had successfully made its way into the pot she snatched it and poured herself three quarters of a cup. She then placed the pot back in its spot before filling the rest of her mug with creamer. Of course Skye knew that this much sugar was bad for her health, but she didn't really care, there was no way that she was going to give up that delicious taste for anything.

Skye gently sipped from her coffee cup as she made her way back to where she had left her laptop. This was going to take most of her skill and so after placing her mug on the table with practiced care she put her earphones in. She always worked best when she had something to block out. Skye picked a band to listen to with enthusiasm, it had been a long time since she had needed to use this method of improving her hack and she had to admit that she was rather excited about it.

She cranked the volume up blocking out the world around her as she became encased in her own world of hacking. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, they were programmed with so many years of practice that Skye didn't even have to look at her fingers, focusing fully on the screen. She was almost through the first firewall when all of a sudden her headphones were none too gently pulled from her ears.

Skye freaked out, letting out a shocked yell and spinning around in her seat to face the intruder who had disturbed her hack. She quickly calmed down however when she noticed that it was only Ward. What he was wearing, a pair of sweat pants and a soaking wet t-shirt together with the awful smell that was emanating from him, confirmed that he had been down in what Skye had deemed the exercise room, most likely training with May.

"You scared me half to death!" She informed him adamantly when she had gotten over the initial fright of the thing.

"What are you doing?" He re-asked the question that he had already inquired of her three times but that she was unable to hear due to her loud music.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Skye replied as she took a swig of her coffee before resuming her hack.

Ward leaned down over her shoulder to watch what she was doing. It took him a moment but he soon worked out what she was attempting to do.

"Are you hacking the Hub?" He asked straightening up and looking at her accusingly.

"Now why would you ask such a thing?" Skye said trying to keep her voice innocent, which of course she was terrible at. Ward looked at her suspiciously before walking away and calling over his shoulder.

"You'll never get in."

_Well shows how much he knows_, Skye thought as she gently replaced her earphones and continued to type. She was going to get into this place if it took her all night.

Thankfully it did not take her all night, her coffee wasn't even gone when she got in, which she had to admit was good, even for her. Granted, she wasn't exactly viewing government secrets, well at least not the big ones. And she rather had the feeling that they had let her onto the camera feeds instead of stopping her.

Be that as it may, it didn't bother Skye one little bit. So they were monitoring her, she wasn't doing anything illegal, well maybe she was, but nothing too illegal. She pulled up the images from the cameras and began to go through them looking for Coulson and Simmons, they were here somewhere; they had to be. The images passed by one at a time, there were shots of empty rooms and long hallways, but there was no sign of either Coulson or Jemma.

Skye was starting to get worried and was just about to end her search to find Ward and tell him of the others disappearance when she found them at last. They had just exited a room and were now in one of the corridors accompanied by Director Fury and Agent Hand. Skye had never met the Director in person but she had met Hand and she had to say that she didn't care much for the senior agent at all.

Fury was saying something to Coulson who did not look pleased at all by what he was hearing. In fact Skye would go as far as to say that Coulson looked angry, and was that a hint of fear she saw in his eyes? Skye would have given anything in that moment to be able to read lips, but it just wasn't possible. If only she had a program on her computer that could do it for her, but she was only dreaming.

Coulson gave a cross reply to what Fury had said and Simmons tried to calm him down to no avail. Skye attempted to read what she was saying but she only picked up one word, it was either 'we' are possibly 'be' , however it could have been 'me', she couldn't really tell.

And as Simmons addressed what she said next to Fury the entire group walked through another door together and were lost to view. Skye went to switch to the camera on the other side of the door but there wasn't one there. How could there not be a camera there? This was a secretive facility yes, but they still liked to know what was going on behind closed doors. There had to be a camera.

After some furious typing and a couple of ingenious tricks Skye found an entire section of the Hub that was on a separate camera line then the rest. Skye thought that it was strange, but it was no more secure then the first one had been. With some simple hacking Skye was in and she could see everything. There was a lot of empty rooms upon empty rooms with no sign of Coulson. Where could they have gone?

And then one of the rooms wasn't empty. There was what appeared to be a hospital bed and strapped to it was a man, and not just any man. His long disheveled black hair covered his face but his clothes were so unique that it would be almost impossible not to recognize him.

And Skye most definitely recognized him. The shock of seeing him here of all places caused her to leap quickly to her feet, sending her chair toppling backwards. And she pull her headphones from her ears as she yelled for Ward as loud as she could. Skye tried to think straight but she was too worried about Coulson, what would he do if he found out that _he_ was here?

She scrabbled to get her phone out of her pocket. _Please, please have your phone_, she thought as she quickly hit speed dial. _Answer!_ Skye practically hopped up and down as the phone rang.

"Hello, you've reached Simmons' phone," Fitz's voice came distinctly through the phone.

"Ugh!" Skye yelled as she hung up the phone, throwing it on the table as she called out through the Bus once more for Ward. She heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching as well as the sound of Fitz and May making their way up the stairs from the lab. And as they all converged on where Skye was, her computer screen went dark and the image that was there a moment ago was replaced with the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem. She must have lost the agents following her somewhere along one of her more inspired tricks, but now they had caught up with her.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Skye shouted as she quickly tried to get back in, but there was really no point, they had locked her out and there was no way back in.

"Skye!" Ward said taking her by the shoulders and trying to calm her down. "What's the matter?"

"We have to tell Coulson," Skye couldn't think right but she managed that short reply.

"Tell him? Tell him what?" Fitz asked, something was wrong and if it concerned Coulson then, at the moment, it also concerned Simmons.

"He's here!" She said unsure what else she could say.

"Who is here?" Ward asked bringing Skye's attention back to him.

She looked up at him her eyes wide with terror and concern. Concern for Simmons and Coulson, and terror for what would happen if that monster got out. And so she looked into Wards eyes and found the strength to bring her thoughts back together. She took a deep breath and let it out as she said the name:

"Loki!"

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**A\N:** Firstly, I must apologize for the lateness of this chapter my life got a little hectic there for a while. However things have calmed down and I present to you the next chapter. And don't worry the next one will come soon.

Secondly, I want to thank all of you for reading my story. This has now become my longest multi-chapter story, so thank you so much.

And thirdly, please do not be afraid to review, reviews greatly help increase my writing ability because it lets me know that someone actually does like my story. So please, your reviews are highly appreciated!


	5. Waking Up

Loki opened his eyes.

The green canopy that hung above his eyes was a comforting sight. It had been years since he had actually woken up in his own bed. And just the thought of being home calmed him. He would have gladly stayed there and stared at that green material, but he couldn't. There was something terribly important that he had to take care of. He simply could not recall what it was.

Loki sat up.

He looked around him confused, this was not his room. He had woken up in his bed but he was not in his bedroom he was in Thor's. He didn't remember falling asleep here. Come to think of it, he couldn't recollect falling asleep at all. But as he tried to remember, the nagging thought that he had to do something imperative returned.

Loki got out of bed.

The All-Father was trying to tell him the importance of respecting one's elders and the consequences that came with disobeying. But Loki wasn't listening, what he was doing was taking in his surroundings. They were in the throne room, the throne was behind Odin and the pillars stood to either side of them. Loki vaguely remembered the pillars being destroyed and the throne broken, but he couldn't take hold of the thought. Perhaps it had just been a dream. He didn't have the time to figure it out though, he had things to take care of.

Loki shook his head trying to dispel the images of destruction.

That was when he noticed the blond hair and red cloak disappearing down the rainbow bridge. Perhaps Thor knew what he had to do. But Thor was already too far away to hear his call, so Loki started running off after the retreating back of his brother. Down the rainbow bridge he went, Thor always just slightly ahead of him. He came to a sudden halt before Hiemdell.

"Where is Thor?" He questioned impatiently, he did not have time to delay.

"He has already gone through to Midgard," Hiemdell replied in his deep voice.

As he ran around Hiemdell he noticed that the Bifrost was still opened, he could still make it though. However before he had made it to the portal he noticed that there was a man in a bright red suit standing before him.

"You know what I think about this," the man said in an almost monotonous voice, and Loki recognized him. However he could not place where he had seen him before. However before he could ask the man anything he got the overwhelming feeling that he had to find Thor and so without another glance at the man in the red suit he continued on.

Loki stepped into the Bifrost.

When the Bifrost dissipated Loki found himself not on Midgard but instead he was on Jotunhiem. The ice was all around him and he could feel the cold pressing in, not that he was bothered by it, he had always had a high tolerance to cold. Loki didn't understand why he was here and so he called to Hiemdell, but there was no reply, he was stranded.

Loki began to walk.

He found himself in an old ruined Jotun temple. It was abandoned and the silence was all around. Then the rumbling started, low at first and then growing in volume. Loki wasn't sure how but he identified the sound as foot steps and they were coming towards him.

Loki turned.

There standing behind him was a Frost Giant, and not just any Frost Giant, it was Laufey. Loki couldn't help but be surprised, he had personally killed the Jotun King and yet here he was.

"He's sedated he can't do anything," Laufey said but when he spoke his voice was not his own but that of Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. This day just kept getting weirder. And then to top it all off, two warriors appeared between the still advancing Frost Giant and his estranged son.

They were both women dressed in complete battle armor. They had their backs to Loki and he could not see their faces. The taller one had long brown hair while the shorter one had jet black hair. When the shorter one turned around he recognized Darcy and she spoke to him.

"Run, we've got this." And in her voice there was a tone that could not be argued with and all that was to be done was obey.

Loki ran.

And found himself on Svartlhiem. The dust of the battles before lay all around him. He knew that somewhere there was most likely the resent wreckage of a Dark Elf ship and the body of Malekith. From behind Loki there came a low moan of someone or something in pain. Loki was afraid to turn, whatever was on this planet could not be good. However his curiosity got to him and he couldn't stop himself.

Loki turned around.

There, in the dust of the body's and wreckage of the once great Dark Elf army, was the body of the future king of Asgard. Loki ran to his brother's side realizing that he was not dead, at least not yet. His still gasped for breath. And as Loki took his dying brother's hand in his own, Thor opened his eyes.

"I don't know why I ever thought I could trust you," he said, the words coming rather smoothly considering that he could barely breathe. "You did this to me, Loki. You stabbed me in the back."

Thor gave out a shuddering breath and breathed no more. The words that Thor had spoken to his brother were painful for Loki to hear. He had tried to block them from his mind as the final ramblings of a dying man. But they were true, he had killed his brother. It was all his fault.

Loki wept.

There was a hand on his shoulder and then he was pulled up into a warm hug that smelled just like home. He didn't want to let go but eventually the hug was terminated and he was pushed slightly away to look into the eyes of his mother.

She kept her hands on his shoulders as she smiled up at him. "Loki, you need to wake up," she said her smile not wavering for a second. "Wake up."

And then she burned. There was no flame and her smile never left her lips, but she burned. And her body slowly turned to dust before his eyes. This was his fault too, he knew it. But the past was unchangeable and he had to live with his choices.

Someone roughly grabbed his arm from behind. And he instinctively turned and seized an unsuspecting neck in his hand. He fully expected to look into the face of another one of his enemy's but instead the face that looked back at him was his own. And as his own greens eyes stared back at him from under disheveled raven hair, Loki squeezed his hand tighter slowly and steadily wringing the life from his own body. And as the last hint of life left the green eyes before him:

Loki woke up.

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**A\N:** This is now my longest story with the most chapters! I would like to get it to the status of most reviews as well so please leave a review about anything, what you think of the story or just say hi, all are greatly appreciated!


	6. In Reality

Jemma Simmons was a bio-chemist, but at the moment she was making sure that she had all the equipment necessary to do a standard blood draw. Though in all reality there was nothing standard about it. At the same time she was trying to block out the argument that Coulson and Fury were having off to one side.

"You know what I think about this!" Coulson was almost shouting. Simmons had never seen him lose so much control before, but he did have a pretty good excuse. And as she thought about it Jemma glanced at the unconscious man strapped to the bed, although in fact he was not a man at all.

Simmons had no idea why out of all the agents, some of which were actually certified medical doctors, Fury had picked her to do this. Not that she was complaining, this was an amazing chance, and only last week she had met her first Asgardian. Of course this wasn't an Asgardian.

Part of her thought that Fury had only picked her because of Coulson, some sort of face-your-fears ploy. However Simmons wasn't sure that Coulson actually was afraid of Loki. There was something in the way he was talking that was more as though he was saying exactly what Fury wanted to hear. _Because_, Jemma thought. _How can you be afraid of your murderer if you're still alive? _

"What if he tries to do something?" Coulson questioned.

"Do something?" Fury replied indignantly, "He's sedated he can't _do_ anything."

This argument had gone on long enough, they had come full circle. At the beginning Simmons had tried to calm Coulson down, but she had realized quickly that that was not going to happen. But now they were just being ridiculous and she was going to stop it. She cleared her throat, which had no effect on the two arguing men, but it made her feel better.

"Would you two just stop it?" She raised her voice and shouted. "Now I am going to do this no matter what either of you say. And so if it's all right with you Director Fury, I would like to start now."

And with that she turned her back on the two speechless men, she didn't make a habit of shouting so her outburst was rather a surprise to them. They stood in shocked silence, staring first at each other and then at Jemma. Ignoring them Simmons picked up an iodine swab that was lying on a small table next to four needles. She had been told that she only needed to use two of them and that the other ones were just in case. She didn't dare ask, 'Just in case of what?' because she did not want to hear the answer.

Simmons gently took the sedated god's left arm in her hand and turned it so that the pit of the elbow was facing up. With a quick swipe of the swab she had disinfected the area around were the needle would puncture. She kept one of her hands on his arm as she reached for a needle, but before she could grab one Loki had grabbed her.

Somehow he had woken up, broken his right arm out of the restraints that held it to the bed, and found Simmons neck. She desperately tried to pry is fingers away from her, but he was stronger than she was. She had always thought that when you got strangled you couldn't breathe at all, nevertheless she could still get small breathes of air to her lungs.

Fury and Coulson were trying their best to help, but Fury didn't want Loki dead and so he was quickly rifling through the drawer in the bottom of the table for more sedative. Before he had found it however Loki had tightened his grip on Simmons and was now effectively strangling her to death.

She was grasping for breath now, unable to find any, as her hands continued to pry at Loki's fingers around her neck. And as she lost oxygen her vision went fuzzy. _So this is what it is like to die, _she thought. And as the edges of her vision went dark and her hands got clumsy and sluggish, when she thought all was lost, Loki let go.

Simmons collapsed, her knees giving way as she desperately gasped for air, each breath feeling as though she was inhaling tinny knives which dug into her throat. Somehow she managed to stay conscience, but the world seemed to move on around her like she was stuck in Jell-O. She saw Fury inject Loki with a needle full of more sedative and as the god slowly drifted back into unconsciousness she saw his face. He was looking down at her with a mixture of worry and confusion, was it possible that he had not meant to harm her? Then he slipped fully into unconsciousness and Simmons gasped for more air.

"Are you okay?" Coulson's voice came to her from so far away that she could scarcely understand what he was saying to her. But she did understand, the problem was that she didn't know how to answer such a question, she was still alive which could be okay, but she could barely breathe which was not okay. She tried to speak her confusion but all that came out of her throat was a dry rasp.

Coulson was pushed from her as an oxygen mask was gently placed over her face. The air got clearer and sweeter as she gradually lost the need to gasp for every breath. And soon enough she had removed the mask and was standing to her feet with a little help from Coulson.

"Are you okay?" He repeated his previous question rather concernedly.

"Yes," Simmons managed to say, but her voice was harsh even to her ears, and after that simple reply her throat hurt. Furry pressed a glass of water into her hand, and as she drank the cool liquid cleared her throat and she felt so much better. Her throat still felt hoarse which was only to be expected.

"Come on," Coulson said lifting her up and leading her toward the door. But Simmons rebelled against his leading arm almost falling before he caught her again.

"I can finish," she rasped out trying to turn from the door and make her way back to where Loki lay. But in her weakened condition Coulson was too strong for her and she had no choice but to let him lead her out of the room.

Simmons felt weak and all she really wanted to do was lie down but Coulson led her on, down many halls that all looked to same to her. They didn't stop until they had reached the Bus where Coulson deposited her onto one of the bolted down couches in the upper section of the aircraft. Fitz and Skye had looked rather upset when they had come in and they continued to look so when they noticed how pale Jemma looked.

"What happened?" Was Skye's quick question when she came back from the kitchen with a drink of water for Simmons. "Was it Loki?"

Coulson looked shocked that Skye even knew that Loki was in the building but when she quickly explained that she had seen him on the Hub's video cameras he recovered enough to tell them what had happened. And as it turned out it was not that long of a story. However at the mention that Loki had almost killed Simmons all the occupants of the Bus exploded in outrage, except May, who looked about ready to kill someone.

"No permanent damage was done," Simmons explained her voice still raspy, and it would probably stay that way for a few days. Skye winced as she lifted Jemma's hair out of the way and saw the purple bruises already starting to cover her friend's neck.

"And none of us are going anywhere near Loki again," Coulson said matter-of-factly. "In fact we are leaving as soon as we are fueled up. May, how long will that take?"

The Calvary checked her watch before replying, "Twenty minutes."

"Very good," Coulson said, "We'll leave in twenty."

And then without further ado Phil Coulson turned, and leaving his team to take care of Simmons, walked up the stairs to his office. He had some thinking to do, and as always he needed quiet to do it. As he sat down in his arm chair his hand absentmindedly went to the scare on his chest and he let his mind wonder over the occurrences that had transpired that day.

Fifteen minutes later his thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door.

"Come in," He replied looking up to the door as Agent May entered.

"We'll be taking off in five minutes," she informed him.

"Thank you," he replied and was about to return to his thoughts as she left, however she paused her hand on the doorknob. He looked up at her expectantly as she cleared her throat.

"Sir," She said, choosing her words with precise care, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, May, I'm perfectly fine," Coulson replied, understanding her concern but deeming it completely unnecessary. There was no reason why he wouldn't be fine.

May gave a nod of her head as she left the small office. But as she pulled to door closed behind her she paused and stuck her head back inside.

"Fitz is making sandwiches, if you want one you should come down now." And with that she left, however she didn't pull the door shut all the way leaving it opened just slightly. Coulson sat for a moment listening to the voices of those in the room below drift up and come through the crack in the door. And tucking all of his thoughts and fears of Loki away in a dark corner of his mind he stood and descending the stairs joined his team.

* * *

**A\N:** I am so sorry to all my lovely readers who have been so patient in waiting for me to update this story. I have just moved my life from one state to another and my life was crazy for awhile. But now with school starting up my chapter updates will be very far apart, but they well come so keep being your amazing, patient selves. I love all of you who are reading and reviewing, you are all great keep it up!


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